KENYA: NATION MUST ABOLISH THE COALITION GOVERNMENT BEFORE THE ICC CAN EVEN CONSIDER DEFERRING ITS CASE

From: David ochwangi

It is common knowledge to all that Kenya has two centers of power, each pulling in the opposite direction. It is against this backdrop that President Kibaki’s spirited efforts to derail the ICC process will fail. This is a blessing in disguise particularly for the victims of violence whose interests and cries for justice have simply fallen on deaf ears three years after the crimes and still counting. VP Kalonzo and his team’s renewed mission to save the precious Ocampo Six from The Hague are on a fools’ errand whose futile outcome is as good as a foregone conclusion- naught. First off, the one half of the government led by PM Raila Odinga is vehemently opposed to the President’s position; in the eyes of the world, the president’s position cannot be the government’s position because a government needs ALL its parts, in this case an entire half is missing and therefore his efforts fail on a technicality alone, the security council members with veto powers have stated quite clearly as such. So if the president was serious about helping his precious six, the key prerequisite and first order of business would be to disengage from the coalition and take complete and full command of the ICC effort. Quite frankly, disengaging from the coalition is one step Kenyans will be very thankful to him for. Kibaki is not gaining any additional respect by staying in it, in-fact his conciliatory and accommodating ways have only earned him ridicule and scorn, so I say why bother? To the president I would say, cut your losses Mr. President, disengage from the coalition, restore some sanity in government and manage the transition to a new constitution without the bickering and wasteful sideshows, the new constitution still allows you to withdraw. This coalition has subjected Kenya to international ridicule, transferred her sovereignty to foreign powers and weakened her institutions tremendously.

With respect to the precious Ocampo Six, frankly the president is not doing them any favor but is instead fueling the ICC and the international community’s resolve to pursue this case. It is not just that he has gone about this thing totally the wrong way but he also bungled the one chance he had to show the world that he valued the rule of law in the way he recently nominated people for the CJ and other key posts. It served to reinforce the world’s perception that Kenya is not ready to carry out a credible prosecutorial process of the PEV when the president failed to respect key provisions of a constitution he himself helped pass. If the president makes a mockery of Kenya’s brand new constitution, the ICC is not safe either and I don’t think either the international community or the ICC itself will allow him to make a mockery of its process as well, NO. This and PM Odinga exploiting the situation and milking it for political mileage simply spelt a death knell on the Ocampo Six’s bid to avoid The Hague. Not to mention that Kenyans by and large now depend on the ICC for justice and view it as their only insurance against the tyranny of the government and the powerful.

Second, we must keep Prime Minister Raila Odinga honest; Raila has maintained that PEV suspects must be tried at The Hague before 2012 to avoid violence again. But how is it that the PEV suspects must face justice at The Hague for their illegal acts while Raila Odinga continues to reap the benefits of those very acts? Truth be told, Post-Election Violence put Odinga in office as Prime Minister, again, the Prime Minister’s post in Kenya is a direct consequence of PEV of which PM Odinga is the single-most beneficiary, so if he were sincere about fighting impunity, he should lead by example and resign from the position derivative of impunity. Odinga cannot and should not be allowed to have it both ways- fighting crime while benefiting from the same! It is no different than sending a robber to jail while keeping the loot to yourself instead of returning it to its rightful owners. He shouldn’t be allowed to continue benefiting from an illegality. That is an untenable and hypocritical realty we must right. We must not settle for half measures but rather a complete overhaul and clean break from the unfortunate past; if the precious Ocampo Six must be tried for their actions, we must also do away with the positions and benefits accruing from those actions and chief among them is the Prime Minister’s post. Justice demands equality, equity and fairness and I can’t think of a more perfect scenario where this must be upheld-what’s good for the goose must also be good for the gender.

ODM’s so called “rebel MPs” allied to Eldoret North’s William Ruto also need to mature up and quit acting like the spoilt brats they have become. Instead of persistent moaning, whining, bluffs and idle threats about quitting ODM and threatening to pass a NO CONFIDENCE motion against PM Odinga, do it already! Put your money where your mouths are or simply SHUT UP! They are disingenuous by barking at the PM accusing him of dictatorship and yet continue to enable him to perpetuate dictatorship from his plum and powerful post as Prime Minister. As spelled in the “Accord”, the PM’s post is dependent on ODM’s strength in parliament and if these rebel MPs were serious about stopping PM Odinga, they can do so immediately. The 30 or so of them have the power to effectively end the coalition madness tomorrow if they wanted to, just be brave enough resign from ODM instead of your cowardly insinuations and the so called “ODM Strength” in parliament will end- tomorrow, sounds like common sense to me. The bickering within ODM as well as between the coalition partners is derailing the implementation of the new constitution and time is fast running out before the next election, doing away with the coalition madness will go a long way in expediting the process. These MPs can help deliver sanity to Kenya

4 thoughts on “KENYA: NATION MUST ABOLISH THE COALITION GOVERNMENT BEFORE THE ICC CAN EVEN CONSIDER DEFERRING ITS CASE

  1. Maryann Wanjiru

    Fellow Kenyans,

    Indeed this country has been held hostage by the Ocampo suspects, a national shame to say the least, Kibaki has proven to be the king of impunity, he has forgotten so fast why we have IDPs, living in the most deplorable, piteous, shameful and unacceptable life in the camps, to him the most important mission is to save Uhuru, his role as a leader in social or economic matters is greatly wanting,

    Raila on the other hand is an extreme non performer, pang’ang’a and vitendawili tu, his role in this nation is best served as an opposition heckler, he has lost control over his close allies, they mis guide him, embarrassing him at the end of the day, what / who is miguna miguna?

    Kalonzo – i have no words for that two faced cow, all i can say is i feel sorry for his constituents, they have nothing but a fraud for an MP

    Ruto / Uhuru – will anyone / somebody please wake them up from their slumber, they are still suffering from hangovers of politics of yester years, and I pray Hague catches up with them sooner

    I argue all the members of this forum, let us all get new people, fresh ideas, lets not vote in any of this people, we have an economy to build.

    All the best though and I hope we all wake up to one voice of reason to move this country forward.

  2. DR. ODIDA OKUTHE

    AN OPEN LETTER TO BAN KI MOON AND THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND ICC

    Your ecellency the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon!

    Before you listen to Kalonzo Musyoka delegation ask him, Kalonzo Musyoka, what role he played that led to the 2007/2008 post election violence. Ask Mwai Kibaki what he did to stop his police from shooting from the back and killing fleeing innocent unarmed youth protesting his theft of the 27 December 2007 elections.

    With regards to justice to the people his police killed or robbed of their property during the post elections violence ask him to show you how many implicated criminals he has taken to court in the last three years.

    If he has failed the IDPs where is the evidence that he will do it with the establishment of a local tribunal? The previous and the present Kenyan constitutions never allowed crimes against humanity nor do they allow for genocide by the government. What has stopped Mwai Kibaki from trying the suspects using the existing laws?

    The ICC should realise that Kibaki’s quest for deferral of the ICC cases against the six suspects is not for the benefit of the suffering Kenyans or the IDPs but he wants to save his own skin since the top suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta, General Ali and Francis Muthaura acted at his behest during the post elections violence. Uhuru Kenyatta and Muthaura are Mwai Kibaki’s kinsmen so his fight to defend them is understandable but this defense should not be at the expense of 40 million Kenyans.

    Tax payers money is being spent by the president to save himself and the Ocampo Six without the approval of coalition government. This should show the security Council and the ICC at The Hague that this president adores impunity and so is bent to save his tribesmen in total disregard to and contempt of the 40 million Kenyans.

    The Security Council and the ICC should step in in the name of justice to humanity to eliminate impunity from Kenya ones for all. This they will never do if the man who despite legitimate protests unilaterally chose elections officials in advance to rig the 2007presdential elections gets his way with deferral.

    The world should know that if the ICC trials are postponed by a year then Mwai Kibaki will have imposed with impunity Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya therefore we shall end with yet a younger Omar al Bashir who is much more allergic to justice than the one in Sudan as president in Kenya.

    Security Council and the ICC please, please save Kenyans from PNU impunity.

    Mr Ochwangi of course as a matter of apparent upbringing will never write any articles to the press without an element of shameless dishonesty. Ignore him!

    DR ODIDA OKUTHE.

  3. Jd Brown

    Yes, Lady Wanjiru …. your prayers have been answered…they have been officially indited today. Now the six must deal with legal world..no more politics. I just w in details..will read them later and post my comments. So far the individual charges against these six are specific and any body who thinks that Mr. Ocampo has weak evidence aginst the six, should think twice!!!. Some of us in this forum had predicted long time ago that the fate of these six rested with the Pre-trial judges not: Kenya government/ Kibaki, Kalonzo or the KKK alliance.

    It is a waste of public money to send Kalonzo and other Government officials around the word to camppaining against the ICC on behalf of these Six…while nobody advocate for the IDPS.

    The recent trip of the VP to UN was stupid act. Why didn’t Kibaki listen to Kilonzo and Wako on this issue?????????. US and UK had told Kenya government that they would veto deferral motion in the UN security Council. So ask your sef why was Kibaki government sending several MPs to: labano Branzil New york…to lobby for defererral???????

    Kibaki must now decide if he is going to keep: Uhuru, Muthaura and ali in their current posts and how much his administration is going to cooperate with ICC going forward. How damn is Kenya government to ask for deferral while the legal charges had not been made. Kilonzo has been telling this government not to waste public money in this futile campaign against ICC. The questions now, what will Kibak/PNU, Ruto RV Mps and Kalonzo do.do now?????.

    Both Uhuru and Ruto must now put off their 2012 Presidential plans on hold. The wheels of justice tend to move slowly..if these two and their supporters think that the case against the two and others will be over soon, I have bridge to sell them in the Amazon jungle!!!. This is my prediction, Kalonzo is the WINNER IN THIS MESS!!I don’t think he belived the this ICC would issue deferral on this caase. Now while Ruto and Uhuru will be fighting these charges at Hague, Kalonzo will be trying to put the KKK alliance for the 2012 election..if I am wrong tell me why!!

    I fully agree with you Kenya need fresh leaders than the crop you have now. I am looking forward to read your future posts…Ilike your objective analysis of Kenya politics

  4. T.M.Nzissi

    The issue of people going to the Hague was a big ploy made only to take RAO and his brigade,this hole was dug to swallow the PM and his fellows.They have dug pits and holes to sink Raila but either by sheer luck or the power of the gods the guy has been able to pass through them unscathed.
    This shuttle and hue cry came about when the son of JOMO and he old man from Meru was also included,that the time the kibaki and his PNU side woke up to reality show that the HAGUE option was also affecting them big time.
    Picture the situation when Ocampo would have read the names of suspects as PM,KOSGEY,RUTO SANG,KANJWANG,BALALA,NYONGO,in that line up,the issue of shuttle diplomacy and pleas for mercy and prayes will not be there,infact it will be Ocampo being encouraged to move with speed to pick his suspects.All suspects will by now be without offices .
    The knife has unfortunately started cutting from their side and its painfull.

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